African leaders and senior government officials are gathering in Antalya, Türkiye, for the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), seeking to advance the continent's priorities on climate finance, adaptation and resilience.

African countries are pressing for predictable and accessible climate financing at COP31, warning that persistent funding gaps threaten their ability to implement adaptation and resilience programmes.

A major concern is the gap between international commitments and the funding reaching vulnerable countries. African negotiators are seeking more grant-based financing rather than loans that could deepen existing debt burdens.

The African Group of Negotiators has also pushed for dedicated discussions on adaptation finance. However, its proposal for a standalone agenda item failed to secure consensus during negotiations over the conference agenda.

In an opinion article published as COP31 opened, African negotiators Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah and Charles Wanguhu called for approximately $120 billion a year in adaptation finance by 2035, emphasizing the need for predictable funding.

Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), highlighted the scale of the challenge, noting that Africa requires approximately $277 billion annually to implement its climate commitments through 2030.

“Climate financing must ease these pressures rather than deepen them,” Gatete said, stressing the importance of investments that support resilience, energy access and economic development.

He also questioned the effectiveness of existing climate initiatives, noting that nearly 500 cooperative initiatives had emerged since the Paris Agreement, but their implementation remained uneven.

“Announcing an initiative is one thing; securing the resources to implement it is another,” he said.

The ECA has highlighted the COP31 Presidency's Climate Implementation Bridge as an opportunity to turn climate commitments into bankable projects, with Ethiopia among the initial pilot countries.